TikToker Assaulted On Pak I-Day. What Kind Of Freedom Do Women Really Have?

The Pakistani TikToker assault case has cast a shadow and multiple questions on the status, positions and freedoms women enjoy in public society. What drives our intolerance towards women taking agency over their own lives? We raise flags and puff out our chests and speak of independence every year. But how free are women today?

A shocking incident of mass attack against a woman content creator surfaced on August 14, the day Pakistan marks its Independence Day. As per reports, she alleged hundreds of people - largely men - assaulted her, tore her clothes and hurled her into the air when she was filming a video with her friends. A video of the said incident too went viral online.

The incident reportedly occurred near Minar-e-Pakistan at Greater Iqbal Park, Lahore. A First Information Report (FIR) in the case has been registered with police authorities assuring due action against the mob. More on the case here.

The irony of the situation, of course, is the date on the calendar the alleged assault happened.

What does the independence of countries count for, if not the freedom and protection of its citizens?

Pakistani TikToker Assault Case Exposes How Vulnerable Women Are To Violence

Clear details and motives in the case are yet to emerge. Notwithstanding those, what immediately strikes the conscience when hearing of this incident - or so many others like this prompted by gender-based violence - is the impunity with which women are made targets of various kinds of attack.

Much of the violence also derives itself from cultural mindsets.

In Pakistan, for instance, the youth's freedom of expression witnesses routine curbs with apps like TikTok - where liberal ideologies of equality and inclusion float - occasionally being clamped down on for what authorities deem 'obscenity'. Clothes, ideologies, rights, dignity - don't such bans put the very essence of identity at risk?

As in any other moral defence dialogue, women making content on these apps emerge as prime victims to blame. Earlier this year, Mamia Shajaffar, a popular actor and social media figure in Pakistan was brutally trolled for wearing 'revealing' clothes at a music event she attended.

Public humiliation, domestic violence, cybersexism, sexual harassment - for women, these experiences have dangerously become commonplace. Is the pressing issue of ">rape culture being given enough attention or understanding?

The worrying bit is such cases will continue to surface until solid, guided action is missing from law and order that commits itself to women's safety. And so far, that kind of regulation to limit, much less deter or completely obliterate, violence against women isn't anywhere in sight...

Views expressed are the author's own. 

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